Be more civilized

I’m impressed with these prisoners who are on a hunger strike because of the inhumane treatment of other prisoners at Pelican Bay. This shows real empathy, something we don’t often see (or expect) from prisoners. That the state is trying to sweep this under the rug, and is also threatening those on the hunger strike, is oh-so typical.

I worked in a prison for more than a decade, and the things you hear about brutality and cruelty from those in charge — believe me, it’s all true, and then some. Yes, some of these prisoners are terrible people, but at the same time, most of them are quite ordinary people who made mistakes and who never got the breaks in life you and I did. At any rate, no one deserves to rot away in solitary for decades. We should be more civilized here in California. This isn’t Texas.